I wonder if anyone can identify this ship, please? My late uncle may well have taken the photograph as he was an naval observer in the late 1920s and 1930s. Much of the time he served in the Mediterranean and this photograph certainly looks to have been taken somewhere warmer than around the UK.

You are correct, the CinC Med did have a 'flag frigate'. HMS Surprise commissioned in 1946. Though it looks nothing like the photo above. She was also used by HM when she reviewed the Fleet in 1953 at Spithead.

Many thanks, WreckerL, HMS Bryony looks like where to start. The photo certainly dates from before WW2 so HMS Surprise is unlikely! We had wondered about someone's private yacht but thought it more likely to be a naval vessel.

A check on Wikipedia jogged my memory - HMS Chrysanthemum did indeed serve in the Med between the wars, including work as a target tug.
I recall reading this in hard copy some years ago, and an almost inevitable note to the effect: "However, on such and such date she was struck by a shell fired by HMS........."
The patched-up damage was apparently still visible during her London Embankment days.

Target tugging would be in order as my uncle was certainly involved in such enterprises, at the end of one such his Fairey IIIF struck trees and crashed breaking his back. This was at the Novar airbase, then a field, at Evanton near Invergordon in 1931. He was on Furious and Eagle between 1931 and 1936. Then on HMS Repulse which carried float planes and then briefly on HMS Hastings in 1937 between Malta and UK. Could this latter be the sloop in the photograph? The portholes don't seem to be right though.

This is certainly not the sloop in my picture as the lower set of portholes indicates: 3 only in Chrysanthemum (pictured by Topstop) and more in my photo, which certainly looks like Bryony. As my uncle was doing an aerial photography course in the early 30s, he may just have been taking photos of ships to see how they came out. He sent this to his young sister and probably told her that he knew some of the folk on board! Anyway, thanks to all for your intriguing snippets.